The game of golf, in order to provide maximum satisfaction to the player, requires a well-developed set of driving skills which embody a precisely controlled application of speed and force. Indeed, golfing is one of the most demanding of sports in terms of accuracy and consistency: the lack of either is immediately punished. To play the game successfully, even at a moderate level of competency requires that the necessary skills be developed through repetitious practice of the essential techniques of the swing.
An optimum gold driving swing is accomplished when the ball is driven in a direction substantially along the path which is being followed at the point of impact by the clubhead. However, due to imperfect technique, most golfers find it impossible to strike the ball without some components of movement of the clubhead in a direction which is perpendicular to the desired direction of the line of flight. The effect of these imperfections in technique is to give the ball excessive spin. Clockwise or counterclockwise directions of spin will result respectively in either left-to-right, or right-to-left movement of the ball, in turn causing hooking or slicing of the ball as it flies. A controlled hook or slice is acceptable and, in fact, is the norm for most players. However, uncontrolled hooking or slicing leads to unpredictable paths of flight and therefore to overall inaccuracy and, ultimately, to dissatisfaction with the golfer's game.
Only repetitious practice, always seeking to minimize the amount of uncontrolled hooking or slicing, is effective in remedying the problem. However, due to the fact that conventional, unrestrained balls require large amounts of space in order to practice event the so-called "short game", to say nothing of practicing drives, available practice time and facilities are restricted by the absence of a sufficient number of practice locations at which practice can be practically and successfully carried out.
Many devices for use as practice aids for golf and various other sports in space-restricted areas have been devised. In general, most of these devices have the objective of simulating actual playing conditions, at least as to some of the critical techniques, while limiting the space which is required to accomplish the desired practice. In one class of equipment, the user strikes or throws the object ball into a receiving net which restrains and sometimes returns the object ball to the user. In another class, the object ball is restrained on a restraining mount or tether so that when the ball is struck the ball moves only a small distance and returns to its original position or to a near proximation thereof.
In Austrian Pat. No. 204,451, M. Gerber shows use of a ball tethered to a stake by means of an elastic cord, interrupted by a swivel.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,297,321, V. D. Kahnes et al. show a baseball training device having a baseball connected by means of a long cord to a short elastic "shock cord" and then to a spring and a stake. The long cord allows the baseball to be pitched to a hitter along the usual distance between a pitcher's mound and home plate.
Other tethered balls are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,708,796 to J. Lawrence; 3,767,198 to R. Boyer; 4,147,353 to J. Moore.
In summary, the prior art teaches that in certain games, such as baseball, a free flight characteristic may be achieved by attaching a light cord to a ball and then attaching an elastic cord to a stake and to the cord to achieve tethering.
Because of the very small size of a golf ball, slightly larger than 1.5 inches in diameter, these prior art teachings have not been adapted to golf balls. At first glance, one might simply attach a screw hook into a golf ball and a tethering cord to the hook. However, if this is done, the screw hook will work against the ball over a very small area of the ball surface and will soon crack the ball given the very high impacts of powerful golf driving. To date, there has been no satisfactory way of tethering a golf ball.